WIP Wed 11/7/12

   I got a lot done on Rosemary the lamb

   lot's of dense quilting, see the squiggly

 "wool". I felt she needed alittle decoration

so I'm attempting to hang some rosemary

around her neck although they sort of look

like balsam branches in this photo. I'm not 

looking forward to quilting them down 

though, it's going to be thick - fusible layers 

over already dense quilting. I should do a

practice piece first, I suppose:-(               

and I finally finished my views from the summit of Poko - moonshine!

a couple of my relatives and fellow hag - festers (that's a long story - lol!)

may want these which is why I made 2. the skies are the same but the mountains and trees are different.

I'm waiting for a good day to take photos of these, as you can see they aren't that great as it's been cloudy and dark gloomyness every day here lately. 

also finished an old UFO which I described in my last post

a double sided window quilt for a 

blue star family

all in all a good week for quilting projects

(amazing what an extra day off will get you)

Blue Star Window Quilt

With Veteran's Day coming I thought about the blue star quilt I had almost finished and got it done last night. If you aren't familiar with the blue star service banner go here to understand what it means.

I designed this to be able to hang having the star facing out and the back has a couple of panels 

to enjoy from the inside - hung in a window it can also help insulate in the cold weather.

one with wolves

and one with assorted wildlife in the winter forest

here is the back side

the trick was quilting it and not interrupting the images on either side, but I think I pulled it off

I put velcro on the top tabs so it can be hung easily from a curtain rod 

I'm putting it for sale in my etsy shop 

Thank you to all the veterans for your service1

Book series - Louise Penny

I know this is a quilting blog but I don't know of any quilters that aren't also avid readers, so here is a new author I just found. (Thank you Sandy for the suggestion)

 

This is the first of the series. They are mysteries, light reading. She has a way with her characters , hard to describe but I can really identify with them.

 

This is the 2nd one that I just finished.

A line in the book that stuck with me -

There's a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in

 

 

And this one I just got today and will dive in this evening. They all take place in a small town just across the border in Quebec called 3 pines - which is why I can identify since I live not far from the border just the other way and grew up in a small town although not as quaint as 3 pines.

 

This is what I worked on today - lots of curly squiggles on my lamb.

Her name is Rosemary ;-)

WIP Wed - The Barn Raising

 I started building the barn for my sheep - Is that the correct term for one animal, I always hear sheep used in the plural? I think she's alittle light in the forehead, maybe use some thread to darken or shade a bit.

She needs a name though - any suggestions?

My mountain top project is almost done - just the binding left to do by hand.

When both are done, I will do the unveiling together - stay tuned!

Bartonsville covered bridge / quilt bloggers fest

If you like to look at great quilts go to the quilters blogger festival site and visit all the quilty goodness.

There are lots of links to some really talented quilters, so check it out and support them. :-)

 

The quilt I'm posting about was made right after hurricane Irene came thru last year. I thought of it because of Sandy coming thru. It is done with fusible appliqué, then quilted down with different colors of thread.

I sold it but if I remember the size was about 28" by 18" or so.

 

This is the photo I used to make the quilt - the bartonsville covered bridge stood strong since 1805

 

And this is what was left after Irene. You may remember the video of the bridge falling into the river. It was all over the news and was truly a great loss.

the bluest eye - a painted quilt

I love the banned book challenge so much I made another one. There are an amazing amount of books on the list to choose and I love a creative prompt on which to point me in my arty quilty direction.

Go here to check out the banned book project - the deadline is november 1st for the challenge but you can always just pick a book to give you inspiration just for fun.

I picked The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and went out of my comfort zone of applique on this one and painted it, then quilted it. I will take you along the process.

First I found a photo of Toni  Morrison (might as well use the author's eyes, plus she is such a natural beauty)
after cropping down to just the eye area - print it out and go over the stand out parts with black sharpie.

then when you place the white cotton fabric over it, you can see thru - pencil trace those important parts

I used good quality acrylics and this aloe after sun gel above for a medium while painting so it doesn't dry to fast and helps with blending. You can spend a lot for an acrylic medium but this works just fine

I also like to put the photo on my iPad home screen to look at while painting.

my fancy palette - yes, it's a meat tray and yes it's washed :-)

I taped the fabric to a board so it won't move around and just played doing the skin first, looking at the photo for the shaded areas ect.

doing the eyes last, see the difference between above and below

it's that little light or highlight that makes an eye look like an eye

now to add some eyelashes with a pencil - they are thread painted on later

Square up, add a border and then quilt

the eyelashes are  the last to go on

I'm not a great artist but if I can manage to pull this off then you can too - try some painting
and just let go and have fun with it ;-)
(by the way, the photos of the work in progress were taken with just a lightbulb inside and the end result ones (first and last photos were outside with better light so they are more true to actual)

wip wed 10/24

 oh so close, but yet so far! only half the binding to finish on the mountain scene I showed last week. 

I love how the sneakers came out :-) they are traced from a photo of my feet, then drawn on a light moddled batik fabric after applying wonder under 805, then cut out, fused down and then thread sketched over the drawn lines that I used a fine fabric marker to draw.

I liked this mountain scene idea so much I made another one - this is with cut out trees this time but the same sky - lighter mountains - have yet to quilt and bind.

the sheep I started awhile ago has had no progress at all lately - poor guy is still waiting for a barn to live in.

I have to decide on a color for the background barnwood - any suggestions?

now for my moms masterpiece, she didn't finish the one I posted last week, but look at her finish for the week  - how awesome is this! we are talking hand applique on all those bias stems and buds, perfect mariners compass points and that curly border thing - wish I had a couple of close ups to show. she is very precise with her quilting unlike her daughter (which is why I stick with art quilts)

now this is the ultimate work in progress - doing 4 of these puppies together for one amazing quilt. 

I couldn't imagine doing it, but it is gorgeous. 

Well done Mom!